Interní Med. 2007; 9(9): 398-400

Lyme disease and musculoskeletal system

MUDr. Martin Žurek

III. interní klinika FN a LF UP Olomouc

Lyme disease is an infectious disease caused by spirochetes of Borrelia strain. The disease course has several phases and its manifestation is diverse. Musculoskeletal complains may present in any phase of Lyme disease. Artralgias occur in early phase together with erythema migrans without any objective finding on joints and may persist for many months or years. Intermittent arthritis that manifests already in early phase of borreliosis is usually monoarticular or oligoarticular and asymmetric. The frequency of flares of intermittent articular inflammations decreases with time. Chronic lyme arthiritis is very frequently limited to one joint, typically a knee and is characterized by large recurrent joint effusions. The diagnosis of Lyme disease with musculoskeletal manifestation is complex and is base on typical clinical findings, serologic examination (ELISA + confirmatory test, Western blot, immunoblot). The base of treatment of articular manifestation of Lyme disease is a longterm antibiotic treatment.

Keywords: Lyme disease, diagnosis, treatment

Published: January 1, 2008  Show citation